The Heston Group

Website Links

Description

Texas, Heston Group Project , up to $16,471,725.00 Texas requested grant funding for single-family pre-fabricated, panelized housing that can be broken down to fit a standard 8' x 20' shipping container. Heston is a Italian manufacturer of pre-fabricated, panelized housing used in relief situations for the United Nations and military housing in Iraq for some 90,000 troops. Heston is an experienced producer of housing designed for quick deployment and reuse. o The proposal was unique in design and concept for housing immediately following a disaster, because it can be pre-positioned, stored flat, and reused. Because they can be pre-positioned and transported by any number of standard means (flat bed truck, barge, train) they can be delivered quickly. These houses can be constructed in as little as eight hours by a six person crew, and minimal skills and training are required to complete the job. Heston Group has offered to build a "Texas Vernacular" style that can meet neighborhood and community standards throughout Texas. The units can also be used on private and group housing sites.

Recognizing the extensive and complex housing challenges facing victims and communities as a result of Hurricane Katrina and acknowledging the limitations on FEMA’s ordinary statutory authority to provide non-temporary housing solutions, Congress appropriated $400 million to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to support alternative housing pilot programs. Congress provided that: “Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall consider eligible under the FEMA Individual Assistance Program the costs sufficient for alternative housing pilot programs in the areas hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina and other hurricanes of the 2005 season.” (P.L. 109-234, Sec 2403) The Alternative Housing Pilot program represents a one-time exception to FEMA’s existing authority under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, by providing an opportunity to explore, implement, and evaluate innovative approaches to both short and intermediate-term housing solutions, an initiative that may yield systemically adoptable alternatives worthy of future consideration by FEMA and Congress.

The 2005 Hurricane season resulted in thousands of families and individuals left without sufficient housing for unacceptable periods of time and exposed the weakest link in our society’s disaster relief response. Heston’s mission is to provide housing designed, dispatched, and assembled with the highest attention to efficiency, safety, and environmental soundness, and to continuously improve its products through innovation, research, and a relentless focus to provide for the American people in their times of greatest need. Through honest business practices and superior financial performance, Heston will fulfill its vision of being the global leader in rapid-response housing services.

Products & services